Thus what has emerged is Education 43: Teacher Narratives, Policy and Power – “We Answer with our Lives” #TeacherLives

This course is an exploration of the lives of teachers, how they are framed within popular culture and policy, and how they frame themselves within the politics of the classroom, schools and broader society. While our analysis is situated in a national/global discussion, the focus will be on teachers in U.S. urban settings. Students will be working with various critical social theories and analytical tools to think through teacher narratives, historical and sociological texts, film, policy debates, guest presentations, and other sources. Assignments will include conducting interviews with educators and producing mixed media projects that deepen our collective understanding of teacher lives/identities and interrupt dominant and often reductive discourses about educators.

#TeacherLives on Twitter

I invite interested individuals to follow course conversations with students through Twitter at #TeacherLives

Jose Luis Vilson & Dr. Bree Picower

#TeacherLives Speaker Series

We will also be hosting a speaker series on #TeacherLives which will include talks by educator-scholar-activists Dr. Bree Picower and Jose Luis Vilson

Here is a partial list of films that students can view for an analysis of how teachers and teacher lives have been depicted in film over the last 50 years. If you have a film to recommend please share via Twitter, use #TeacherLives

emayorga

Edwin Mayorga is a parent, educator, scholar and activist. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Studies and the Program in Latin American and Latino Studies at Swarthmore College (PA). He is director of the Education in our Barrios @BarrioEdProj, youth participatory action research collaborative in Philadelphia, and #CritEdPol, an undergraduate/community focused online journal of critical education policy studies.